Love Just Is
by Mindy Sue
Summary: Elizabeth Weir is the leader of the Atlantis expedition, she's strong, tough and in control, she's also madly in love with John Sheppard. Will he ever find out how much she truely cares?
1. Chapter 1: Hidden Secrets

Love Just Is

Chapter One: Hidden Feelings

The sun had not even began to rise over Atlantis, and already Elizabeth Wier was in her office reading over new reports and signing papers that had been stacked up while she had slept. She grabbed her cup of coffee and took a sip as she looked out the window. Everything was so peaceful outside. The waves were slowly rolling by and the stars twinkled pleasantly in their own little rhythm. Elizabeth couldn't help, but let her mind wander back to a subject that seemed to be on her mind a lot lately, John Sheppard.

John was defiant, and irrational, and a pain in the ass at times, but he also had a knack for being caring, and compassionate, and just the person Elizabeth needed when she was in over her head and needed a helping hand. By the time Elizabeth had realized she was falling for him she had already fallen hard. She spent far too many nights staring out the window thinking about him, daydreaming about him pulling her towards him and sweeping her into a passionate kiss, and wishing that she could have a place in his arms. She realized all too well that she cared for him much more than she was supposed to, given their professional relationship to each other, but matters of the heart rarely take professional relationship into consideration.

She sighed and closed her eyes. It was almost painful, how easy she was able to see John holding her in his arms protectively, kissing her softly, and loving her with all his heart.

"Elizabeth." The sound of her name broke her out of her trance and he turned towards her doorway where Rodney McKay stood.

"Rodney, good morning." She said with a friendly smile.

"Are you alright?" Rodney asked. His concern was evident in the features of his face.

Elizabeth smiled wider. "Yes, of course, why?" She asked.

"I've been trying to get your attention for a few minutes now." He said as if it were obvious.

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, it's early, and I didn't get much sleep last night." She said.

Rodney looked at his watch. "You still have a few hours before the general population of the city wakes up, you can still get some rest." He said.

She smiled at his friendly suggestion. "Thank you for the concern Rodney, but I'll be alright." She said. "Is there something you needed?" She asked, remembering that he was more than likely not there for the sole purpose of suggesting she get some rest.

"Oh, yes," Rodney started as he pulled out the monitor that was almost always found in his hands. "I wanted to talk to you about some research I'd like to start." He said showing her a page he had brought up on the screen.

By the time Rodney had fully explained his theories, and how he planned to go about researching them with his science team, an hour had passed by. The sun was now up in the sky and the city was stirring to life. Through her window Elizabeth could see many familiar faces walking through the city, many people coming from the mess hall with cups of coffee and all of them going towards their assigned area of work. There was nothing abnormal about today, which was the way Elizabeth liked it, though she didn't hold tight to the grand idea of it staying that way. Atlantis had never been a place of normality, it's citizens had adapted to that, and in many cases enjoyed the thrilling experiences they had on a daily bases. Elizabeth didn't mind the abnormality as long as at the end of the day her teams came home safely and the city stood to go on another day.

Elizabeth stood up with a yawn and stretched before walking into the control room.

"Good morning Doctor Wier." Lieutenant Thorton, one of the many people who worked in shifts to run the computers in the control room, said.

"Good morning." Elizabeth said. "I'm going to get a coffee, if anyone comes to see them please invite them to take a seat and wait for me to return." She said.

"Yes Ma'am." Thorton said.

With that Elizabeth turned around and walked down the steps into the gate room, and turned down the corridor that led to the mess hall. There was a few people sitting around chatting quietly with each other over cups of coffee and bowls of barely edible oatmeal.

"Good morning Doctor Wier." One of the men behind the counter said as he arranged fruit in a basket to put out with the oatmeal.

Elizabeth smiled. "Good morning." She said as she grabbed a cup of coffee.

"Would you like a bowl of oatmeal?" The man asked.

"Not today." She said imagining the horrible taste of cardboard that was associated with the oatmeal. She gave him one last smile before taking her coffee and heading off towards her office. She had made it about halfway there when she heard someone saying her name. She stopped and turned, knowing who the voice belonged to, and ran straight into John.

"I'm sorry." She said taking a step back.

"My fault, I didn't expect you to turn so sharply." John said. Before she was able to say anything he continued. "I was just on my way to see you." He said.

"Oh really, and to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" Elizabeth asked as they walked towards her office.

"I was wondering if you'd give me permission to go to the mainland with Teyla today." John said.

"She's going there for a holiday celebration, right?" She asked.

John nodded. "She said something about celebrating the memory of the ancestors." He said.

"I don't see anything wrong with you going, it sounds interesting." Elizabeth said as she walked into her office, and took a seat at her desk behind a new stack of files that had appeared while she was getting her coffee.

John leaned against the doorway. "Well, I'll bring back a souvenir or something." He said with a playful smile.

Elizabeth just shook her head, and smiled at him. Her heart fluttered as she fought to keep her cheeks from going red. He'd never know what that smile of his did to her.


	2. Chapter 2:A Little fun Never Hurt Anyone

Chapter Two: A Little fun Never Hurt Anyone

By the time noon had rolled around Elizabeth was busy refereeing arguments, searching people out to question them on something they'd written in their report, and listening to reports on what was going on throughout the city. She didn't have a spare second to herself to daydream or worry about what John was doing on the mainland.

"We have two men in the infirmary, both still recovering from the battle against the wraith they were involved in yesterday." Carson said as he sat across from Elizabeth in the briefing room.

Elizabeth took another drink of her coffee and yawned. "Thank you, Carson." She said.

"How much sleep are you getting a night Elizabeth?" Carson asked in a concerned tone.

"About four." Elizabeth said, she knew it wasn't nearly enough and that she'd get a talking to from the chief doctor, but she was a busy woman and many nights sleep was the last thing on her mind.

"That's not nearly enough. You're going to wear yourself down. I know you get here before sunrise. Perhaps you could stay in bed, sleep an extra hour or two a day." Carson suggested.

Elizabeth nodded. "I'll try, it's been pretty hectic around here lately." She said.

"It's always going to be hectic around here, all the more reason for you to get a decent amount of sleep." Carson said.

"Alright." Elizabeth said simply.

"Is there anything else bothering you? You've seemed somewhat distant lately." Carson said. Carson was a sweet and caring Scotsman who had a heart of gold, and that was one of the many reasons Elizabeth had chosen him for this expedition, and it was a big part in the reason the two became friends.

Elizabeth nodded. "No, everything's fine. I just need to get more sleep." She said with a smile.

"Alright then, I'd better get back to work." Carson said standing up.

Elizabeth followed suit, and walked him to the door of the briefing room, and watched as he walked off towards the infirmary.

She walked back to her office and took a seat at her desk and began tackling the files she had left.

"You work too hard." She heard John say from the door way.

She looked up. "I'm the leader of an off-world expedition. It sort of comes with the territory." She said.

John held up a necklace that was made of clay beads. It had all different colors in it and it was intricately designed. "I told you I'd bring you back a souvenir." He said handing it to her.

She picked it up and inspected it with a huge smile. "It's beautiful, thank you." She said.

"Here, let me help you get it on, the hook thing is weird. Teyla showed me how to do it." John said picking it up, and walking around behind her.

Elizabeth held her breath as John's hand touched the back of her neck as he worked to clasp the necklace together. She could feel his breath on the back of her neck as he looked closely at it fiddling with the two sides.

"Ah, ta-da!" He said after he finally figured it out.

Elizabeth could hardly control herself from fainting from the close touch, but she smiled so that he wouldn't think anything of it. "Thank you John." She said.

"What do you say you give up the job for just one night, and come watch a movie with Teyla, Rodney, Ronan and I." John invited. He had one eyebrow raised, obviously intrigued by what her answer would be.

At that moment Elizabeth would have said yes to him even if he had asked her to shoot Rodney. "Sure, why not." She said.

John looked a bit surprised, but smiled none the less. "It's a date then." He said before he walked off.

Elizabeth dropped her head on her desk, and sighed. "You have got to cut this out." She whispered to herself.

That night after finishing up the last few files of the day Elizabeth went to her quarters and changed into civilian clothes, and headed off to the room that had been designated as the viewing room. They had a white canvas set up, and every once and a while the Daedelus would bring a reel of a new film for them to watch, it just so happened that one came with them the last trip they had made, which was just a few days ago. When she got to the room she saw John sitting on a couch with Ronan, Teyla and Rodney. She couldn't help, but smile at the odd group that she saw sitting there. They were all very different in every way, yet they had all become good friends.

"Liz! Hey!" John said waving her over.

"I brought popcorn." She said holding up a bucket of popcorn that she had picked up on the way over.

"Ah, come sit next to me then." Teyla said.

The group moved over and made a space for her to sit in between John and Teyla. She squished in and passed the popcorn around.

"Alright, for those of you who are unaware," Teyla said.

"Rodney." John interrupted with a laugh.

"The movie we have here is something called The Breakfast Club." Teyla said ignoring John's comment and reading the paper that came along with the movie.

"It's a classic." John said.

"I've never seen it." Elizabeth confessed looking at the paper in Teyla's hand.

"Where have you been?" John asked, not quite able to grasp Elizabeth's confession.

"Busy." She said with a shrug.

"Well thank god I got you away from that desk of yours. Life may have passed you by while you were sitting there." John said.

"Start the movie!" Ronan cheered as he took a big handful of popcorn.

Elizabeth laughed along with the others as Rodney pushed the button to start the movie.

By the time the movie was over everyone was sprawled out throughout the room, and they were all in great spirits. They had laughed, and joked with each other throughout the movie. Elizabeth had never been happier. Too often she gave up a good time to work overtime or do something extra. It had gotten her to where she was today, but it had also left a hole in her life where she should have been having fun. Now, granted, before she left for Atlantis she was with Simon, and they were good together. They were in love, and that gave her an incredible amount of joy, but she didn't remember ever having as much fun with him as she had had with John and the others in the past few hours. She looked at her watch as the credits rolled and was shocked to see it was already midnight.

"Oh wow, it's late. I'd better get to bed, I've got an early morning tomorrow." She said standing up.

"I'll walk you to your quarters." John said. She opened her mouth the object, but he cut her off. "It's fine, honestly, I'm going that way anyway." He said.

She nodded, and they walked off towards her quarters after saying goodnight to the others. They walked in silence until they reached her door.

"Thank you for inviting me tonight, I had a great time." She said leaning against the door.

"I could tell, you need to get out and have fun like that more often." John said.

"I'll take that advice." She said. She was about to tell him goodnight when he leaned in and kissed her softy. When they parted she was so blown away she wasn't able to speak.

"Goodnight." John said then he walked off down the hall.

"Goodnight." Elizabeth said quietly.


	3. Chapter 3: Even Black Clouds Have Silver

Chapter Three: Even Black Clouds Have Silver Linings

No amount of fatigue in the world could have put Elizabeth asleep that night. Not after the kiss she had just received from John Sheppard. At that moment she felt like she could do anything, write a novel, fly, defeat the wraith singlehandedly, she could do it all from where she was sitting right then. She sat in her bed her eyes wide open and her heart racing as her mine replayed the moment over and over again. She was sure that if it hadn't been so late she may have even squealed like a school girl. She wanted to run to John's room and tell him how she felt, she wanted him to kiss her again. After a while of her thoughts running about she sighed.

"Let's think about this rationally." She said to herself. "You are hi…" Her sentence was cut off by a quiet knock on her door.

She looked at the clock that sat on her nightstand, 1am. 'Who could possibly be at my door this late at night?' she wondered as she got up, and walked to the door. When she opened it she came face to face with John.

"We just got word from the Athosians that one of the boys has gone missing. They've searched everywhere for him and can't find him." John said.

Elizabeth nodded, and switched modes, she no long had the time to worry about this kiss, she had a duty to do. She grabbed her coat off the back of her chair and walked to the jumper bay with John. When they got to the bay they met up with Ronan and Teyla.

"We're going to fly over there, and check things out. He couldn't have gotten far, but it's dark so it's going to be harder to find him." John explained.

"Let's go." Ronan said as he equipped himself.

"Do you really think you're going to be needing all of those?" Elizabeth asked as they boarded the puddle jumper.

"Yes." Ronan said simply as they sat down, and John fired the jumper up.

John flew them over to the mainland as quickly as he could. By the time they touched down many of the Athosians had come to greet them with frantic faces.

"Colonel Sheppard, Teyla, Ronan, Doctor Weir, thank you for coming here so late at night." Halling said walking up.

"No problem, now tell me what you know." John said springing into action.

"Reyden was last seen in his bed when his parents fell asleep. His mother woke up, and found that he wasn't there. We searched the woods surrounding us, but we did not go very deep because it is too dark." Halling explained.

"Alright, we're going to split up and search the woods." John said walking back into the puddle jumper. He reached into a compartment and grabbed night vision goggles out. "Use these." He said tossing a pair to each of them. He walked out of the puddle jumper and grabbed his handgun, just in case. "Don't go too deep if you can't find your way back, and if anything happens stay in radio contact." John said.

Everyone nodded and dispersed through the woods. Elizabeth walked in a straight line, paying attention to the things surrounding her so she'd be able to navigate herself out.

"Reyden please come out." She called looking around and listening for any sign of the boy.

After walking for about forty-five minutes Elizabeth stopped to rest on a rock that sat on the side of the path she was taking.

"Has anyone found anything?" She asked over her radio.

"Not yet." Teyla said. "We are turning back." She added.

Wier was about to let them know that she was doing the same when she heard a small noise not too far off. She stood up, and looked over to where the noise came from, and she saw a small figure lying on the ground. She got up, and ran over to it. When she got there she saw the small boy cradling his arm. She knelt down.

"Reyden, are you alright?" She asked.

"Doctor Weir?" Reyden asked nervously.

"Yes." Elizabeth said simply.

"I believe I've broken my arm." Reyden said through his tears.

"It's alright, I'm going to get you back, and we'll fix you up." She said. "This is Doctor Wier, I've found Reyden. He's got a broken arm, but I'm going to get him back, have Carson there by the time I get back." She said over her radio.

"Will do." John said.

"Are you able to stand up?" She asked. Reyden nodded, and stood up with some help from Elizabeth. The two began walking in the direction of the village. After a half an hour they could see the village up ahead. When the villagers noticed the two walking out of the woods they ran up to help. "Please let Doctor Beckett help him first. He's injured." Elizabeth said.

Carson ran up. "We've got to get him back to Atlantis. It's too dark to see anything here." He said.

Elizabeth nodded, and turned to his parents. "Please, go withDr. Beckettback to Atlantis. He'll get his arm fixed." She said.

They nodded and ran off to follow Carson onto one of the puddle jumpers.

Elizabeth yawned and walked off towards the other puddle jumper.

"You look like you could use some sleep." John said walking beside her.

"That's the understatement of the year. It's been a long day." She said.

"Well, we're going to head back home now. Teyla and Ronan are already on board resting." John said. Elizabeth just nodded and walked into the puddle jumper taking a seat in the back and resting her head against the wall. It didn't take long before she began to drift off, and soon Elizabeth was fast asleep.

"Elizabeth." John said shaking her awake.

"Hum?" She asked as she opened her eyes slowly. Once she realized she was lying down in the puddle jumper she sat up. "Oh geeze. I must have dozed off." She said.

"You were out." John said with a smile.

Her cheeks went a bit red. "Well, I'd better get to bed. I've got to be to work in," She looked at her watch. "Two hours." She said.

John shook his head. "You should sleep in. You look exhausted." He said as they walked out of the jumper bay and towards their quarters.

"I'll be alright." She said.

He cleared his throat and looked around to make sure they were alone. "About the, the kiss, I'm sorry. It was completely unprofessional of me, and I shouldn't…" He started to stammer when he decided the coat was clear.

"It was great." Elizabeth cut in.

He looked at her a bit shocked. "Really?" He asked.

She just smiled at him, and kissed his cheek before turning around and going into her room.


	4. Chapter 4: Together We'll Make It

Chapter Four: Together We'll Make It

"_You know, I love you." John said as he sat on the balcony that extended from his room with Elizabeth._

"_Oh really?" Elizabeth asked as she leaned against him._

"_It's true, there's just something about you Lizzy." John said as he kissed her cheek._

"_Lizzy?" She asked, amused by the new nickname._

"_It's cute." He said._

"_If you're ten." Elizabeth said._

"_It's cute for ten year olds and you." John said with a smile._

"_Alright." Elizabeth said giving in._

"_Marry me." John said wrapping his arms around her._

"_What?" She asked not believing she heard him right._

"_Marry me." John repeated. _

_Elizabeth turned to face him, her eyes sparkling. "Alright." She said. He leaned in and kissed her deeply. _

"Elizabeth, Elizabeth." Elizabeth heard the sound of her name and her head shot up. When she opened her eyes she saw Rodney looking at her humorously. "Power nap?" he asked.

Elizabeth cleared her throat. "Of course not, I was just resting my eyes." She said.

"Of course." Rodney said.

"What can I do for you, Rodney?" Elizabeth asked shortly, she was far too exhausted and far too cranky to see the humor Rodney found in the situation.

Rodney cleared his throat and pointed in the way that he always does when he's about to get to business, understanding, through Elizabeth's tone of voice, that today was not the day to be cracking jokes. "We are supposed to be having a briefing," He paused to look at his watch. "twenty minutes ago." He said.

Elizabeth stood up. "I'm sorry, I'll be in there in just a minute." She said grabbing her files. After she had collected everything she needed she headed off to the briefing room where everyone was seated waiting patiently. "I'm so sorry." She said sitting down at the head of the table.

"It's alright, no harm done." John said.

"Are you alright Doctor Weir? You look somewhat ill." Teyla said.

"I'm fine. I'm just a bit exhausted from last night's events." Elizabeth explained. She didn't waste any more time with small talk, but instead she got right down to business.

As soon as the briefing was over Elizabeth stood up, but was stopped by Carson.

"Elizabeth you've got to go sleep." Carson said.

"Carson, thank you for the concern, but I haven't got the time." Elizabeth said as she collected her things.

"Rodney said you were asleep at your desk. You're going to run yourself into a stress heart attack if you don't start getting some sleep." Carson said seriousally.

Elizabeth nodded. "I promise I'll take it easy Carson, for now I absolutely have to get back to work." She said as she left the room.

After the briefing Elizabeth's day just kept getting worse. Everything will go wrong when its most inconvienent, Elizabeth remembered as she was running around the base. Nothing seemed to be going the way it should, and everyone had a problem they needed her to fix. By the end of the day she was a wreck. She made her way to the balcony that she always went to when she needed time alone, and she sat down against the wall and watched as the waved rolled by. She pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her head in them as she started to cry. Every tear seemed to be one more problem just washing away. Suddenly she heard someone clear their throat which made her immediately stop her tears as she looked up.

"What are you doing here?" She asked as she wiped her tears away.

"Coming to make sure you're alright." John said as he sat down next to her.

"I'm fine, honestly." She said.

"Obviousally." He said shortly. He turned to her. "You can't keep it all in all the time Liz, you've got to open up to someone or else you're going to explode." He said. Elizabeth couldn't help, but laugh a bit at the thought. "See that, you need to do that more often." He said with a smile as he reached out and grabbed her hand. "Now talk to me, tell me what's bugging you." He said.

"I care about you more than I'm supposed to." She said softly as she looked past him, afraid to see his reaction.

"Well, see, that I can't help you with." He said.

Elizabeth's heart nearly shattered as he said that. "I, I understand." She said going to pull her hand out of his grasp.

He held tightly to it. "No you don't. I can't help you with that because I've been struggling with the same problem for months now, and I still haven't figured out a way to go about solving it." He said.

She turned to him and looked him in the eyes, searching for the truth. What she saw was so much more. They were filled with so much love and so much respect that she could hardly look away.

"I love you Liz." He said softly as he pulled her in for a kiss.

Elizabeth and John spent the rest of the night sitting on the balcony together. They talked about everything that came to their mines, and for a long time they just sat there together watching the stars in the sky, and reveling in each other's presence.

The next morning Elizabeth woke up as she felt the warmth of the sun on her face. She stirred for a second then opened her eyes to see John sitting next to her still asleep. After wiping her eyes and stretching a bit she looked at her watch, 6 o'clock. She leaned over and shook John to wake him.

"John, its 6 AM." She said quietly.

He groaned and opened his eyes slowly. "Huh?" He asked.

"It's 6 AM we fell asleep out here." Elizabeth explained.

"Oh geeze, I've got to get up." He said as he rubbed his eyes.

"If I don't go I'm going to be incredibly late." She said.

"No, it's fine. If anyone should be on time, it should be you." He said with a smile.

She leaned in and gave him a quick kiss before running off towards her quarters.

After a quick change Elizabeth walked into the control room.

"Did you get a good night of sleep last night, Ma'am?" Lieutenant Thorton asked.

Elizabeth nodded. "Almost too good." She said with a smile as she walked into her office. She was nearly floored by the amount of files and papers that were laying on her desk. She normally had at least an extra hour working on them so they never piled up that high. She was in for a long day.

"Elizabeth." Carson said walking in.

She smiled. "Good morning Carson." She said.

His eyes fell on the stack of papers and he looked at her interested. "Did you just get in?" He asked.

"I took your advice and got a decent night's sleep last night." She explained as she sat down, and looked over a few of the papers on the top of the piles.

"Well, it seems to have helped." He said seeing the unchanging smile on Elizabeth's face.

"It did." She said. She looked up from her papers. "Sorry, but what was it you needed?" She asked nearly forgetting his reason for being there.

"I wanted to talk to you about Rodney." Carson said walking farther into the room.

"What about Rodney?" Elizabeth asked. She wasn't quite sure she wanted to know what Rodney had done this time.

"He volunteered me to be some guiney pig in his experiment." Carson said.

"What do you mean guiney pig? What did he volunteer you for?" Elizabeth asked giving Carson her full attention.

"The scientists under him keep coming up to me and making me touch things and use things." He explained.

"Because you have the gene." Elizabeth said understanding what Rodney was doing.

"Exactally!" Carson said.

"Alright, I'll talk to him. For now tell them no when they ask you to do anything." Elizabeth said.

"Thank you." Carson said before he walked off.

Elizabeth got to work right away reading through papers and signing things. She was reading through a report that one of Rodney's scientists had written when she heard someone clear their throat from her doorway. She looked up and saw John leaning against the wall with two cups of coffee in his hands.

"I saw you running towards the control room, I figured you slept in a bit and you probably didn't get your coffee." He said handing her a cup.

"Thank you, I got more sleep then I meant to last night." She said.

"It was good for you though. You look great today." He said taking a seat.

"Thank you." She said with a smile. Elizabeth could hardly believe it. As if spending an entire night with John wasn't enough, he was now sitting across from her complimenting her. She put her hand under her desk and pinched herself just to make sure she wasn't dreaming. It all seemed too good to be true.

"What are you thinking about?" John asked.

"Just thinking it's all too good to be true." She said.

"I spent quite a while last night thinking the same thing." John confessed.

Elizabeth was about to say something when she looked up and saw a few of the people from the control room looking in on the two of them. She cleared her throat. "I've got a few reports that seem to have some errors and I'd like to double check them. I'm busy right now, but is there any way you can come back later this evening and work on those with me?" She asked.

John was a big confused for a second then realized that someone else must have been paying attention to their conversation. "No problem." He said standing up. "I've got to get going, I'm supposed to be overseeing some research on the puddle jumpers in a few minutes." John explained.

"Alright, see you later." Elizabeth said.

"I can't wait." John said winking at her before he left.

-------

Authors Note: It's not over! Sorry, I didn't mean to give the impression of the end! I've got a lot more story in me, I promise!


	5. Chapter 5: Preparing for the Journey

Chapter Five: Preparing for the Journey

As the sun was beginning to set over Atlantis most of the people had retired their work for the day and set out for some relaxation time, Elizabeth was no different. She had grabbed a few files and was walking towards John's quarters. When she got there she knocked on the door and waited for him to answer it.

"Elizabeth, I was just looking for you." John said walking up from behind her.

Elizabeth smiled. "I wasn't sure what you were doing so I figured I'd come to you." She said.

"Would you like to work on those files in here?" He asked as he opened his door.

Elizabeth hesitated to answer, not sure if that was the appropriate thing to do. "I don…" She started before John interrupted.

"Only to talk about the files, of course." He said.

Elizabeth nodded, and followed him in. "I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean to imply anything." She said feeling foolish.

John shrugged it off. "No harm, no foul." He said. He took a seat on the edge of his bed while Elizabeth sat in a chair at his desk.

"I want to apologize about earlier as well, I just don't feel like we should broadcast our, well, whatever it is we have, to the whole city yet." Elizabeth explained.

"Remember what I said yesterday about laughing? You have got to do that, you're far too serious." John said. Elizabeth nodded, knowing all too well that it was true. "Besides, you have a beautiful smile." John added.

Elizabeth's cheeks when bright red. "Thank you." She said with a smile.

"See, there's that amazing smile of yours. You should share that with everyone, not just me." John said.

Elizabeth walked over and gave John a kiss.

"Mmm, but that, that you should save just for me." He said pulling her in for another kiss.

When they parted Elizabeth smiled. "When did you become so suave?" She asked.

"I was born that way." John said giving her his classic flyboy grin.

Elizabeth's mind couldn't help, but wander to thoughts of what they were doing. She was the kind of person who liked to put labels on things, and this wasn't labeled yet, and that was beginning to get to her. "What are we calling this?" She asked with a sigh, knowing she had probably broken the mood.

"Well, I know that I love you and I'm pretty sure you care about me as well, so in my opinion I'd love nothing more than to say you're my girlfriend." John said simply.

"I'd like that too." Elizabeth said with a smile.

"Well, then it's settled we're officially a couple." John said.

"When you say it like that we sound like we're teenagers." Elizabeth said with a small laugh.

"Sometimes you have to forget everything and act like a teenager, Lizzy." John said.

"Did you just call me Lizzy?" Elizabeth asked as the dream she had the day before quickly passed through her mind.

"I was just making a point, don't worry, it won't catch on." John said with a smile.

"If it does I'm putting all the blame on you." Elizabeth said.

"I think I can handle that." John said.

For the next few hours the two sat together on the floor of John's quarters talking about everything that passed through their minds. In the few hours of talking to John Elizabeth had become closer with him than she'd ever been with anyone in her whole life. The two were so compatible that Elizabeth found it hard to believe that they hadn't gotten together sooner. When he was with John she felt like a new part of her came to the surface. She had happy and laughing and the only thing on her mind was whatever they were talking about at that moment, and she loved that. Most of all she loved that it was John who brought all of this out of her.

"So then he couldn't think of anything to do but play along so he was in the middle of Kabul dressed as a woman getting hit on and he just played along." John said. He was telling her stories of situations he and his friends had gotten themselves into through his years in the service.

Elizabeth busted out laughing. "You're kidding? He played along?" She asked through her laughter.

"For ten minutes! The guy left and never even realized what was going on." John added.

This made Elizabeth laugh even more as she wiped away tears. "That's great." She said as her laughter began to die down.

John sat back for a second, and just watched her.

"What? Do I have something on me?" Elizabeth asked looking down at her shirt nervously.

John shook his head. "No, it's nothing like that. I'm just thinking how wonderful it is for me to see this side of you, and I'm still shocked that someone like you would love someone like me." He said.

"Well, believe it." Elizabeth said with a smile.

John leaned in, and was about to kiss her when Rodney's voice butted in.

"John, are you in there?" Rodney asked from the other side of the door.

John groaned quietly as Elizabeth stood up and sat at John's desk opening a file. John got up and opened the door. "What is it Rodney?" He asked.

"Elizabeth? I'm sorry, I didn't realize you two were working this late." Rodney said.

"Well, you do now. What do you need?" John asked again.

"I was going to ask you if you've seen Elizabeth, but you obviously have." Rodney said.

"Can I help you with something, Rodney?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yes, actually, Carson had previously been helping my team do something researched, but now he refuses to help and he keeps referring my team to you. Do you know anything about that?" Rodney asked.

"Rodney you cannot volunteer Carson's genes for experiments without asking him first and there's really no need to ask him because you know full well how he feels about using the gene, and you need to respect that." Elizabeth said. "There are more people than Carson with the gene. Try asking one of them to help out." She added.

"Alright." Rodney said giving a little pout as he walked away.

Elizabeth looked at her watch. "I'd better get going, it's late." She said.

"Ok, I'll see you tomorrow." John said.

"Thank you for this, it was wonderful." Elizabeth said before giving him a quick kiss. "Goodnight." She said as she left.

The next morning Elizabeth was in her office before sunrise as usual.

"Good morning, Lieutenant Polk, does Lieutenant Thorton have the day off?" Elizabeth asked as she walked into the control room.

"Yes Ma'am." Polk said.

"And the overnight report?" Elizabeth asked.

"Already on your desk Ma'am." Polk said.

"Oh, thank you." Elizabeth said before going into her office.

Elizabeth opened her desk drawer to grab a pen out when she saw a note card sitting on top of her supplies. She picked it up curiously and couldn't help but laugh when she read,

Good morning Liz,

I just thought I should tell you,

JOHN LOVES LIZ!

Thought you'd laugh,

John

Liz put the card back in her drawer with a smile, John had way too much time on his hands, she thought. She'd have to give his team a mission to go on today, anything to occupy him.

She turned her computer on and began going through her files. After she had been working on them for about an hour she heard Lieutenant Polk calling for her. She stood up, and walked into the control room.

"What is it?" She asked.

"A message from the Daedelus." Polk explained simply.

"This is Doctor Weir." She said over the radio.

"Doctor Weir, this is Commander Caldwell. We are approximately two hours outside of Atlantis. The president and a few of his top advisors request a meeting with you and Colonel Sheppard." Caldwell explained.

"Regarding what?" Elizabeth asked. She didn't like the idea of leaving the city for that long, and she knew that they wouldn't call her if it wasn't of some sort of importance.

"No clue, I'm just the messenger. Do we have permission to beam you up when we get there?" Caldwell asked.

"Yes." Elizabeth said. She turned to Polk. "I'm going to alert both Colonel Sheppard and Doctor McKay." She said.

"Alert me to what?" Rodney asked as he walked into the control room.

"Caldwell just informed me that the president is requesting that John and I see him. You're next in the chain of command while we're gone." Elizabeth explained.

"Of course." Rodney said. He was attempting to keep his excitement under wraps, and doing a horrible job at it.

"And Rodney, if I find you've turned into Frank Burns while I'm gone there will be severe consequences." Elizabeth added.

"Did you just make a reference to MASH?" John asked as he walked up the stairs and towards the control room.

"It happens to be one of my favorite TV shows." Elizabeth said matter-of-factly.

"I would have never guessed it." John said.

"Well, now you know." Elizabeth started. She was just about to say something more when John interrupted.

"Now, why is Rodney going to turn into Frank Burns?" John asked.

"You and I have to take a trip on the Daedelus." Elizabeth said.

"You're kidding? Why?" John asked. He hated being on that ship for days.

"The president wants to speak with us." Elizabeth explained.

"Great." John said.

"Don't pout, it's no good for your image." Elizabeth said with a smile. "We have two hours before they get here and beam us up. Be ready by then." She said.

"Alright." John said as he walked off to his quarters to get packed.

Elizabeth just shook her head as she too headed towards her quarters to pack for the trip.

-----

Author's Note: I'm sorry it took me so long to update. I've been very busy with school lately. Hopefully I'll have another chapter foryou by tomorrow! Thanks for the patience


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